I. Technical Field
The present invention relates to methods and systems in the field of automated reconciliation of mail entry operations. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for tracking and monitoring entry locations of delivery items, such as mail, and validating and reconciling data associated with the delivery items.
II. Background Information
The UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE (USPS), an independent establishment of the United States government, is a mail delivery provider that handles billions of pieces of mail on a weekly basis. Mail delivery providers such as the USPS charge postage fees to mailers in order to cover the cost for handling and shipping the mail. Under certain circumstances, a mail delivery provider may discount the postage for mailers that reduce the providers handling and shipping costs for large quantities of mail.
For example, there are several methods available that allow mailers to better prepare the mail in order to receive a discount on the postage. One such method for the mailer is to deliver pre-sorted mail to a USPS mail processing facility. Additional discounts are available to mailers if the mailers “drop-ship” their pre-sorted mail by delivering the mail to a USPS mail processing facility that is nearest to the mail's delivery destination. Drop-ship saves the USPS some of the initial handling, sorting, and transporting costs associated with the mail, which allows the USPS to pass on the savings, in the form of discounts, to the drop-ship mailers.
Mailers that wish to receive the drop-ship discount must first submit a PS Form 8125. The PS Form 8125 allows the mailer to identify the volume of mail and the drop-ship location. Based on the information provided by the mailer in its PS Form 8125, the USPS prepares a proper credit and/or debit from the mailer's customer account. For example, if a mailer indicates in its PS Form 8125 that the mailer is drop-shipping one thousand FIRST-CLASS MAIL letters in four sacks at a specific location for the USPS to deliver, the USPS charges the mailer's customer account at a discounted rate based on the information provided by the mailer in its PS Form 8125. In this example, instead of charging $370.00 to the mailer's customer account at the full first class mail rate of 37 cents per letter, the USPS charges $320.00 to the mailer's customer account, that is, a discounted rate of 32 cents per letter.
A USPS mail processing facility that accepts the mailer's drop-ship shipment will check the shipment against information provided in the mailer's PS Form 8125. However, on many occasions, the processing facility is only able to spot check mail pieces in the mailer's shipment and count the number of mail containers (e.g., pallets, bags, bundles, or sacks). Frequently, the processing facility is unable to count or inspect each mail piece or evaluate whether the drop-ship location is the optimal drop-ship location to the USPS. Accordingly, mail delivery service providers, such as the USPS, are unable to verify the accuracy of the information provided by the mailer and must instead rely upon the mailer's accuracy. Therefore, there is a need for systems and methods that enable the verification of the accuracy of the information provided by mailers. In particular, there is a need for systems and methods that track and monitor entry locations of mail and validate and reconcile data provided by mailers with the mail.